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Friday, August 17, 2018

Fun Freetime: Bluegrass Situation

An exciting 2018 is underway for The Bluegrass Situation, the multifaceted and ever-evolving media company, co-founded by actor and banjo player Ed Helms, that has been redefining roots culture since 2012. Today, the movement better known as BGS is pleased to announce the addition of three new podcasts to their in-demand podcast network through which listeners tune in from around the globe to hear fresh discourse on all things roots.

To their existing staples The BGS Radio Hour,The String hosted by Craig Havighurst, and the now-archived classicHangin’ & Sangin’, The BGS Podcast Network adds three new roots music-centered podcast to their roster:

The Shift List, hosted by Chris Jacobs, is a weekly conversation with the world’s top chefs about the music that fills their kitchens, restaurants and recipes. Listen to a teaser here. The first two episodes will be released on September 17 with subsequent episodes released each week. The Shift List podcast is a revitalized version of the original BGS written column.

Premiering October 1,The Show on the Road — produced and hosted by Dustbowl Revival frontman Zach Lupetin — is a conversation with fellow artists about the ins and outs of musical life whilst, as the name implies, on the road (with some meandering conversational tangents to boot). Guests include Mandolin Orange, Shook Twins, Lindsay Lou, and more.

And premiering this fall, an exciting limited-run series titled The Breakdownfrom BGS and BGS-UK contributor Emma John, along with The Lonely Heartstring Band’s Patrick M’Gonigle. Together, they do the ultimate deep dive into the bluegrass back catalog. Over six episodes, the pair peel back the layers of a genre that’s not just hard-driving and high lonesome, but also bizarre, compelling, and full of completely mad stories.

This year’s Shout & Shine: A Celebration of Diversity in Bluegrass will honor the connection and cross-pollination between blues, bluegrass, and their offshoots and will take place on Monday, Sept. 24, at 6 p.m. at the North Carolina Museum of History Daniels Auditorium, at the very beginning of IBMA’s World of Bluegrass events in Raleigh. Presented by BGS and PineCone, Shout & Shine is the first event of its kind at the weeklong bluegrass business conference and festival. This year’s theme will be built upon the connection between North Carolina’s Piedmont blues pickers and bluegrass, pairing musicians from the Music Maker Relief Foundation with the best and brightest of bluegrass to illustrate that vernacular music from Appalachia and its offshoot genres would not exist in their current forms without people of color, African Americans, African slaves, and the influence of the music they created. For the first time, the showcase is a ticketed, sit-down concert that will benefit both the IBMA Trust Fund and the Music Maker Relief Foundation.

Shout & Shine is made possible by partners the International Bluegrass Music Association, Music Maker Relief Foundation, and the North Carolina Museum of History and the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Shout & Shine 2018 presenting sponsors are the Raleigh Convention Center, the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, and The Press House.

Tickets are $25 and available by following this link: shoutandshine.brownpapertickets.com. All proceeds from the evening will benefit the IBMA Trust Fund and the Music Maker Relief Foundation. Special discounts are available for members of the NC Museum of History, IBMA, PineCone, and the Music Maker Relief Foundation through each organization.

An Exciting and Groundbreaking Year-to-Date:

2018 has proven to be both busy and productive for BGS as they continue to grow and develop their coverage of the entirety of the roots community, tracing diversity and depth in its past, present, and future, providing a platform for artists who have been largely been overlooked and underrepresented in the past, whilst also remaining the #1 hub for today's roots music, lifestyle, and cultural scenes. The BGS Radio Hour has expanded into new markets and is now distributed on NPR and independent radio stations on both coasts and on its home station of WMOT Roots Radio.

More notables include a brand new, rebuilt and re-organized website with a completely fresh user interface, aesthetics, and functionality, plus the launch of BGS’ first international platform, BGS-UK -- a resource and community for fans and readers in the UK and EU (BGS’s second largest international markets behind Canada) creating custom content and laying the groundwork for presenting more shows and tours in London and beyond. Stateside, BGS continues to present shows and tours across the country, including their first BGS Presents at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado with Yonder Mountain String Band and Infamous Stringdusters with the Earls of Leicester and Horeshoes & Hand Grenades on August 4. Continuing at Red Rocks, BGS will present Railroad Earth and Fruition on August 18. Tickets are available here. Many, many more BGS Presents shows have dazzled audiences across the country, from NYC’s Symphony Space and Chicago’s Schubas to LA stalwarts like the Greek, the Wiltern, and Hotel Cafe. More BGS Presents dates are added weekly, with upcoming 2018 shows featuring artists such as Punch Brothers, Billy Strings, and the Devil Makes Three.